1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Wedding Band. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?” The stasis of the play is a city near the South Carolina shore. It is the Summer of 1918 on a Saturday morning. The people involved so far include Julia Augustine, Fanny Johnson, Lula Green, Teeta, Mattie, and Nelson Green. The dramatic situation of the wedding band is between Herman and Julia when Herman becomes ill with influenza.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students. The intrusion of the play takes place when Herman grows ill with influenza. This then speeds up the play in terms of action when it creates the issue of bringing in Annabelle and his mother into the picture because Julia cannot call the doctor herself since she is black and he is white. Things spiral when his family comes to get him, including the moment Herman begins reciting John C. Calhoun’s speech in a half-minded rant, or when Julia and his mother finally have words.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? The unique factor of the play is when Herman shows up. He is the unique factor because of the he is the man Julia lives with, and seeing that during the time period was very out of the ordinary. His showing up causes the rest of the events to take place throughout the night and the next day.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.) Dramatic questions that have to be answered by the end of the play is whether Herman and Julia can finally confront the issues between their races and still exist together afterwards. Another dramatic question that is answered is what Julia will do with the train tickets.
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play. In examining what Julia wants, the audience can take in that she is going against society (me against society), and her neighbors and Herman’s family (me against individuals). She goes against society’s views because she wants a life with Herman without being in the scrutiny of what society at that time thought was right. She didn’t want to keep moving from place to place because people didn’t like her relationship with Herman. Going deeper into detail, Julia goes against other individuals such as Herman’s mother and sister because of what they believe in. She knows that they are both racist, and near the end of the play she faces down Herman’s mother after years of silence. In a way, it could be said that Julia actually has a conflict with herself when she grows angry with Herman and sends him off with his mother and sister, possibly believing that it was a mistake to be with him in the first place, but later that changes when Herman comes back in his last moments to be with her.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band. The most theatrical moments in Wedding Band take place when Julia finally has words with Herman’s mother, when Herman recites John. C. Calhoun’s speech again, and when Julia gives Mattie the tickets before going to be with Herman in his last moments. When Herman recites the Calhoun speech, it creates a line between himself and Julia and causes her to see things differently with their relationship for what could be the first time. When Julia and Herman’s mother finally argue, all those years of pent up anger comes out and Julia is finally able to speak her mind in ways she wasn’t whenever she was with Herman. In the end of the play, Julia giving Mattie the train tickets as a way of helping her escape poverty and going to be with the man she loves in his last hours carries a lot of weight in showing that something has changed within her. She is content in knowing that Mattie will be able to leave, and in knowing that Herman is about to die.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”) Three examples of images in Wedding Band are Teeta and Princess, the wedding band chain, and the tickets.Teeta and Princess represent the image of the future. Their friendship shows that there is no need to hate based on race. The wedding band Julia wears as a necklace is an image because although the audience knows that Julia and Herman cannot be married, the necklace is their vow to be faithful to one another, the way marriage is one. When she gives Mattie the wedding band, it is like setting herself free from the vow since Herman is dying. The train tickets are an image because the audience knows that it will get Mattie out of South Carolina and the suffocation of the south, but the tickets also represent Mattie’s freedom from poverty and perhaps a new life in the north. The title helps us to understand the images because Wedding Band: A story love/hate story in black and white encompasses the love between between Herman and Julia, shown through the wedding band Julia wears as a necklace instead if as a ring because of hatred, the friendship between Teeta and Princess, and the train tickets Herman initially buys for Julia.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band. The themes in Wedding Band include love, fear, hatred, life, and death. These themes can be seen through Julia and Herman’s relationship (love, hatred, and death), Julia’s relationship with Herman’s mother and sister, (Herman’s family’s fear and hatred of people different from them), and even the image Teeta and Princess portray (life).
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think? Family in the dramatic action of Wedding Band can be seen with Julia and Herman, as well as his disapproving family. Julia and Herman represent family because although they often move from place to place, they have stayed together for ten years. Julia immediately tries to find a way to help when Herman grows ill, just like family would when one becomes sick. Herman’s mother and sister represent the disapproving family that do not condone their relationship.
The stasis of the play is a city near the South Carolina shore. It is the Summer of 1918 on a Saturday morning. The people involved so far include Julia Augustine, Fanny Johnson, Lula Green, Teeta, Mattie, and Nelson Green. The dramatic situation of the wedding band is between Herman and Julia when Herman becomes ill with influenza.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students.
The intrusion of the play takes place when Herman grows ill with influenza. This then speeds up the play in terms of action when it creates the issue of bringing in Annabelle and his mother into the picture because Julia cannot call the doctor herself since she is black and he is white. Things spiral when his family comes to get him, including the moment Herman begins reciting John C. Calhoun’s speech in a half-minded rant, or when Julia and his mother finally have words.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The unique factor of the play is when Herman shows up. He is the unique factor because of the he is the man Julia lives with, and seeing that during the time period was very out of the ordinary. His showing up causes the rest of the events to take place throughout the night and the next day.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Dramatic questions that have to be answered by the end of the play is whether Herman and Julia can finally confront the issues between their races and still exist together afterwards. Another dramatic question that is answered is what Julia will do with the train tickets.
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play.
In examining what Julia wants, the audience can take in that she is going against society (me against society), and her neighbors and Herman’s family (me against individuals). She goes against society’s views because she wants a life with Herman without being in the scrutiny of what society at that time thought was right. She didn’t want to keep moving from place to place because people didn’t like her relationship with Herman. Going deeper into detail, Julia goes against other individuals such as Herman’s mother and sister because of what they believe in. She knows that they are both racist, and near the end of the play she faces down Herman’s mother after years of silence. In a way, it could be said that Julia actually has a conflict with herself when she grows angry with Herman and sends him off with his mother and sister, possibly believing that it was a mistake to be with him in the first place, but later that changes when Herman comes back in his last moments to be with her.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band.
The most theatrical moments in Wedding Band take place when Julia finally has words with Herman’s mother, when Herman recites John. C. Calhoun’s speech again, and when Julia gives Mattie the tickets before going to be with Herman in his last moments. When Herman recites the Calhoun speech, it creates a line between himself and Julia and causes her to see things differently with their relationship for what could be the first time. When Julia and Herman’s mother finally argue, all those years of pent up anger comes out and Julia is finally able to speak her mind in ways she wasn’t whenever she was with Herman. In the end of the play, Julia giving Mattie the train tickets as a way of helping her escape poverty and going to be with the man she loves in his last hours carries a lot of weight in showing that something has changed within her. She is content in knowing that Mattie will be able to leave, and in knowing that Herman is about to die.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Three examples of images in Wedding Band are Teeta and Princess, the wedding band chain, and the tickets.Teeta and Princess represent the image of the future. Their friendship shows that there is no need to hate based on race. The wedding band Julia wears as a necklace is an image because although the audience knows that Julia and Herman cannot be married, the necklace is their vow to be faithful to one another, the way marriage is one. When she gives Mattie the wedding band, it is like setting herself free from the vow since Herman is dying. The train tickets are an image because the audience knows that it will get Mattie out of South Carolina and the suffocation of the south, but the tickets also represent Mattie’s freedom from poverty and perhaps a new life in the north. The title helps us to understand the images because Wedding Band: A story love/hate story in black and white encompasses the love between between Herman and Julia, shown through the wedding band Julia wears as a necklace instead if as a ring because of hatred, the friendship between Teeta and Princess, and the train tickets Herman initially buys for Julia.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band.
The themes in Wedding Band include love, fear, hatred, life, and death. These themes can be seen through Julia and Herman’s relationship (love, hatred, and death), Julia’s relationship with Herman’s mother and sister, (Herman’s family’s fear and hatred of people different from them), and even the image Teeta and Princess portray (life).
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think?
Family in the dramatic action of Wedding Band can be seen with Julia and Herman, as well as his disapproving family. Julia and Herman represent family because although they often move from place to place, they have stayed together for ten years. Julia immediately tries to find a way to help when Herman grows ill, just like family would when one becomes sick. Herman’s mother and sister represent the disapproving family that do not condone their relationship.